Vascular disease, in particular cardiac infarction, is one of the most common fatal illnesses. It is caused by disease of the coronary arteries (arterios clerosis), in which the build-up of deposits (arteriosclerotic plaque) causes occlusions in the coronary arteries. In particularly serious cases this can result in a complete occlusion of the coronary vessels, which is known as a “Chronic Total Coronary Occlusion” (CTO). These occlusions have in the past generally been treated only by means of a bypass operation. In recent years laser angioplasty (PTLA) has additionally become established as a way of removing plaque, particularly in the case of long stenoses (>2 cm) and in the case of complete occlusions. However, PTLA involves a considerable risk of injury in the form of hemorrhage, damage or perforation/dissection of the vascular wall.
In February 2002 the FDA authorized a new instrument—known as a CTO catheter—to remove the CTO. This device works in a similar way to stretching tongs and presses out the plaque in the coronary arteries piece by piece and permits a gradual removal of the entire vascular occlusion. Such a CTO catheter to remove the CTO is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,270 “Manual Actuator for a Catheter System for Treating a Vascular Occlusion” and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,516 “Method for Treating Vascular Occlusion”, in particular FIG. 18. As a product, the Frontrunner CTO catheter from LuMend, Inc., Redwood City, Calif. is known.